Wow. Read this. It's Beautiful.

[DimeBagJohnny]

Wow. This almost moved me to tears. Makes so much sense to me. I was reading some subreddit /r/occult posts and came across this:

The Egg
By: Andy Weir
You were on your way home when you died.
It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.
And that’s when you met me.
“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”
“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.
“There was a… a truck and it was skidding…”
“Yup,” I said.
“I… I died?”
“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.
You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”
“More or less,” I said.
“Are you god?” You asked.
“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”
“My kids… my wife,” you said.
“What about them?”
“Will they be all right?”
“That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.”
You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.”
“Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?”
“Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.”
“Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right,”
“All religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.”
You followed along as we strode through the void. “Where are we going?”
“Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.”
“So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.”
“Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now.”
I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. “Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.
“You’ve been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.”
“How many times have I been reincarnated, then?”
“Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.”
“Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?”
“Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.”
“Where you come from?” You said.
“Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.”
“Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.”
“Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s happening.”
“So what’s the point of it all?”
“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”
“Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted.
I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”
“You mean mankind? You want us to mature?”
“No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.”
“Just me? What about everyone else?”
“There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you and me.”
You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”
“All you. Different incarnations of you.”
“Wait. I’m everyone!?”
“Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.
“I’m every human being who ever lived?”
“Or who will ever live, yes.”
“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”
“And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added.
“I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled.
“And you’re the millions he killed.”
“I’m Jesus?”
“And you’re everyone who followed him.”
You fell silent.
“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”
You thought for a long time.
“Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?”
“Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.”
“Whoa,” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?”
“No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.”
“So the whole universe,” you said, “it’s just…”
“An egg.” I answered. “Now it’s time for you to move on to your next life.”
And I sent you on your way.



I just wanted to share this with you guys and gals. I hope it moves you in a positive, inspirational way.

 

[PotatoMan]

The idea of reincarnation doesn't settle with me. I prefer to believe that I'll be eternally elated within the experiences of my life after I died. Do whatever I want, kinda thing

 

[swilow]

Yeah man, I liked that. It moved me. I don't know what I think of the premise, but I enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Xorkoth]

I've reads that before somewhere, it's definitely a beautiful piece of writing.

I believe that reincarnation isn't real in the sense that people think of it from an individual perspective. When "I" die (as Xorkoth) I will no longer exist, but I exist as everything - you, me, the rest of you, my cat, etc. I/we are all of these things, simultaneously, experiencing ourselves subjectively in an infinite variety of circumstances. Time as a linear progression is an illusion, though it's impossible to really see this.

I am you and you are me and we are all together.

 

[DimeBagJohnny]

Reincarnation is one of the few spiritual beliefs that I almost feel is definitely true. I did not exist before I was born yet I still came into existence. Think about that!

 

[DimeBagJohnny]

I've reads that before somewhere, it's definitely a beautiful piece of writing.

I believe that reincarnation isn't real in the sense that people think of it from an individual perspective. When "I" die (as Xorkoth) I will no longer exist, but I exist as everything - you, me, the rest of you, my cat, etc. I/we are all of these things, simultaneously, experiencing ourselves subjectively in an infinite variety of circumstances. Time as a linear progression is an illusion, though it's impossible to really see this.

I am you and you are me and we are all together.

I try to think of the "we are one" belief when I feel angry or negatively towards another person. After all, hurting them would be like hurting myself.
The "universe experiencing itself" belief helps me when I feel very depressed or some other negative emotion. Everything is encompassed in experience, whether it's bad or good. It helps me feel less isolated and picked on.

 

[Ninae]

"The Cosmic Egg". One of the less usual theories out there are that there are more than one of these floating around whitch "hatches" a prime creator or the one responsible for the creation of who we think of as God. Then again where this egg comes from is another mystery.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Thanks for sharing. I like to use the analogy that my life is like a movie filmed exclusively for me. It reminds me to pay attention to the script because everything that arises is exactly what is needed for the plot to develop. I also believe this is true for everyone else. Only a cosmic intelligence could direct such a complicated movie yet remain self-consistent for all while we exist in the illusion of separation. Your story is saying basically the same thing, perhaps more simply. I really enjoyed it.

 

[swilow]

I am you and you are me and we are all together.

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
I'm crying.

 

[Xorkoth]

Yeah that's what I was trying to quote but I couldn't be bothered to look it up. Willow to the rescue.

 

[swilow]

^Did you like how thorough I was there? Even provided audio.

Truth be told, I liked the coherency of your rendition and was singing it to myself wondering why it wasn't flowing properly... Not enough syllables. My favorite Beatles track, and possibly favoritest track of all time forever and ever too.

 

[Ninae]

I sometimes wonder how far this is true. I'm sure it is to some degree...But could it be like a dream where others just lend you some of their soul essence for you to interact with in your self-created world?

I think it's a lot like tht but not sure how much. When you do things it does seem like it directly affects people, but does it really, or does it seem that way only to you? That's the main thing that speaks for an objective world, the presence of other consciousnesses you can interact with and affect with your actions, which seem to have very real effects on them.

Or is it just seemingly that way and we're all just creating this massive producion for our own sake? So that the role someone have in your life can be completely different in their world. Maybe here you are the victim and there you are the abuser. I guess it could be that way, but still it seems to be real, so it would be both at the same time. Kind of fascinating to think how many versions of this world there is then.

I once had an interesting experience when I used to combine benzos with MXE, which was only very mildly psychelic as the benzo cancels out most of the psychedelic effect. But active enough to make you more open to the spiritual world, maybe comparable to weed kind of thing.

So what happened was I suddenly found myself dissolving into a cloud of many little energy particles. I just knew myself as a cloud of energy, floating. It was pleasent, I didn't need anything, blissful kind of state. I just thought "So that's how I've become now" and wondered if it was a collective change or something everyone was sharing in. It wasn't, and I slowly returned to my usual form. Maybe that's more close to what we really are where we're projecting this reality from?

 

[Jabberwocky]

Ninae, I don't know if it is literally true, it's more of a metaphor. It's like everyone else knows exactly what programs we are running and that's what they are reacting/responding to. If we take that as an invitation to explore ourselves and find out what is true, any encounter, any seemingly random incident holds enormous personal meaning. The more present we are, the more cause and effect becomes instantaneous. I don't live in present moment awareness but it isn't completely uncommon for me to live in a state I call living in the flow — where cause and effect become shortened immensely. In that state it becomes absolutely obvious that there are no coincidences. Everything that comes into ones life shows us something about ourselves and about reality. While we are lost in time cause and effect get lost in time too and the meaning of events isn't obvious. If we remember that though anything that happens, whether it be an event, a thought, a feeling or a spiritual experience can be followed back to it's source and brings us back into present moment awareness and connectedness. Anything that takes us out of that flow tells us what remains to be integrated. So the metaphor of life being a movie filmed exclusively for the beholder and guided by a supreme intelligence is a way of honoring every other person that comes into our experience as our teacher, honoring our connectedness, honoring God and our guidance while not ignoring the predicament of our separation.

 

[DimeBagJohnny]

^ I enjoy it for the message it contains, not for the quality or prose of the writing. Though neither bother me.

 

[herbavore]

I love it. I have read it before somewhere a long time ago, before I lost my son and I remember that it engaged me but only in an abstract sense. Everything has changed for me, everything is new; my old perspective, though it does not appear radically different in my expressed beliefs, was in fact detonated out of existence. In a way becoming a mother in the first place was just as radical a shift--I lived on the same planet, in the same body, but everything was changed, deepened, humbled.

My son, when he was two, used to talk of being other things, everything from a cloud to a dog, to me (he said he was once my mother). Depending on the beliefs of those around him, this was interpreted as a) an extremely vivid and charming imagination b) annoying as hell (his big brother, aged 5) c) spiritually enlightened (many of my friends) d) physically "fluid" and wonderfully poetic (me, at the time). Now I sit as if behind a glass wall in an aquarium, watching all the beliefs and interpretations of life and death swimming purposefully around in front of me, waving their delicate and hungry little arms from behind rocks or simply floating by dreamily consuming all they need without effort. I don't even feel the need to read the names or explore the facts about any particular creature that passes through my vision or momentarily holds my interest--I am so engrossed in the beauty of all of it, from the color of the water to the incredible diversity of life it holds. I can't call it detachment because it makes me cry just to sit in the presence of such complex beauty. truthfully, I would trade this perspective back in an instant for my son to have his life restored to him; but I cannot deny that the opening of my heart to encompass even more fully all this beautiful mystery of life and death is in any way tragic.

 

[DimeBagJohnny]

I love it. I have read it before somewhere a long time ago, before I lost my son and I remember that it engaged me but only in an abstract sense. Everything has changed for me, everything is new; my old perspective, though it does not appear radically different in my expressed beliefs, was in fact detonated out of existence. In a way becoming a mother in the first place was just as radical a shift--I lived on the same planet, in the same body, but everything was changed, deepened, humbled.

My son, when he was two, used to talk of being other things, everything from a cloud to a dog, to me (he said he was once my mother). Depending on the beliefs of those around him, this was interpreted as a) an extremely vivid and charming imagination b) annoying as hell (his big brother, aged 5) c) spiritually enlightened (many of my friends) d) physically "fluid" and wonderfully poetic (me, at the time). Now I sit as if behind a glass wall in an aquarium, watching all the beliefs and interpretations of life and death swimming purposefully around in front of me, waving their delicate and hungry little arms from behind rocks or simply floating by dreamily consuming all they need without effort. I don't even feel the need to read the names or explore the facts about any particular creature that passes through my vision or momentarily holds my interest--I am so engrossed in the beauty of all of it, from the color of the water to the incredible diversity of life it holds. I can't call it detachment because it makes me cry just to sit in the presence of such complex beauty. truthfully, I would trade this perspective back in an instant for my son to have his life restored to him; but I cannot deny that the opening of my heart to encompass even more fully all this beautiful mystery of life and death is in any way tragic.

Very tragic, to lose a child. You have my respect and admiration for being able to overcome and find a new, deeper perspective on life. Many people would let such a thing eat them away and be filled with a lot of terrible emotions. I am sure you did battle overwhelming negativity, but to come out of the other side in such a state is a testament to who you - and all humans - really are. According this post and another post of yours I believe you are in a state that I have been trying to get to my whole life, but have failed miserably. I've had one very brief glimpse of true peace... the detached, content observation and understanding you speak of. Sometimes I feel like the fact that I lost it means I won't be able to get it back. I hope am wrong.